The present invention relates to a household hand-operated device for measuring, dispensing and storing of powder and granular materials such as instant and ground coffee, baby formula, dried milk, non-dairy creamer, sugar, flour, detergents and the like. More particularly, it relates to device for measuring, dispensing and storing of the predetermined volume of powder or granular material from a special container or from a container in which the materials are normally sold or stored.
Various types of devices, combining storing and (or-only) measuring and dispensing functions for powder and granular materials have been developed in the past. Examples include U.S. Pat. No. 1,455,970 to Resek; U.S. Pat. No. 1,471,621 to McCord; U.S. Pat. No. 1,904,756 to Wooster; U.S. Pat. No. 3,072,299 to Sessions et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 3,185,190 to Crawford; U.S. Pat. No. 3,193,159 to Swindler, U.S. Pat. No. 5,421,491 to Tuvim et al.
Most of the prior art devices for storing, measuring and dispensing powder and granular materials have some or all of the following drawbacks:
necessity to pour powder and granular materials to be dispensed from a container in which these materials are normally sold into a special container;
complexity of dismantling and reassembling of the device for washing and cleaning;
inconvenience in operation, especially for elderly and handicapped people.
These drawbacks were avoided in the device described in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,421,491, however even this device, as well as all others in the prior art, does not actually provide airtight conditions for storing the materials. As a result, humidity inside the container is uncontrollable, sometimes during several weeks or even more of storage. If the humidity is high, hygroscopic materials such as instant coffee, flour, sugar, salt, etc. stored in the container, become caked and quickly deteriorate. In case of a coffee dispenser, coffee freshness steadily declines during its storage and dispensing because of losing aroma, even at low air humidity. This drawback is especially serious for areas of high humidity climate where the prior art devices are completely impractical.
Another drawback of the device described in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,421,491, as well as other earlier developed structures based on a hand-operated plunger-type dispensers, is that placing a container with attached dispensing device requires additional space on a shelf or a kitchen table. This drawback is caused by a slide extended from the device""s contour. The extended slide also undesirably affects the esthetic characteristics of the device.
To provide airtight conditions for stored materials while providing for measured dispensing of the materials is the main object of the present invention.
It is further object of the invention is to provide compact, monolith-like shape of the device during storage of the material.
Still another object of the invention is to provide improved quality of esthetic design of the dispensers.
Other objects of the present invention, as well as particular features, elements and advantages thereof, will be elucidated in, or be apparent from, the following description and the accompanying drawing figures.
The present invention achieves the above objects, among others, by providing, in a preferred embodiment, a hand-operated device for measuring, dispensing and storing of powder and granular materials, having filling and discharging/storing positions, comprising: a container wherein the material is stored and a measuring and dispensing unit attached to the container. The unit includes: a housing having interconnected material receiving and material discharging openings; a slide moveable back and forth inside said passageway, delivers the material from the receiving opening to the discharging opening, accommodating a predetermined volume of the material dispensed by the device in one stroke; a compression spring located between the slide and the housing, being compressed when the slide is moved inside the housing during its working stroke, the spring returns the slide in its original position after being released; a retaining means holding said slide inside the housing in its discharging position when the device is not in use, a stoppering means fixing filling position of the slide; and a means providing airtight closing of the ways of possible penetration of air from the container to outside atmosphere or back.